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Are you thinking about using the template intake forms from your EHR for your practice? Before you take the shortcut, find out how generic forms could expose you to legal risks and why customized documents are the better long-term investment.
In today’s information-rich world, many patients question why they should hire a licensed healthcare professional instead of handling things on their own. They may ask, “Should I see a physical therapist or try exercises from YouTube?” “Do I really need psychotherapy, or can I just read a book?” or “Why consult a physician when a popular social media influencer claims to control my chronic illness with affordable herbs and supplements?”
We see the same phenomenon in healthcare law. We understand practice owners’ impulse to avoid attorney’s fees by using template forms, such as the generic forms that many electronic health records systems (EHRs) offer. Such templates can include informed consent forms, intake forms, and other patient-facing paperwork needed to run a healthcare practice.
If you are just starting your own practice, the lure of ready-made practice paperwork is strong. However, there are myriad reasons to rethink using a template.
Compliance Issues: Are Your Templates Keeping Up With the Law?
By law, providers must obtain specific information from their patients. The required information varies by state, type of practice, and the services provided. For example, the requirements for a medical spa in California will differ significantly from those of a primary care physician’s office in New York or a telehealth-only mental health practice in Illinois.
Template forms from EHRs may not account for state-by-state differences. California, for example, mandates that practice forms inform patients how to contact the regulatory board for the provider’s profession. Most states also have mandatory reporting requirements, each different from the next. Will a template address these requirements? Maybe, or maybe not. And even if they do, there’s no guarantee they’ll align with the most up-to-date requirements for your state.
In fact, you’ll find that many EHRs provide disclaimers with their templates, denying any warranty for fitness and warning practice owners to have an attorney review them. Unfortunately, many practice owners don’t heed this advice, exposing themselves to risk if a regulatory authority discovers non-compliance. Ultimately, the practice, not the EHR provider, is responsible for ensuring that the forms comply with ethical and legal requirements.
Additionally, EHR templates may not include the compliant consents a practice needs before treating a patient. For example, if your practice provides mental health and behavioral health treatment to patients virtually (via telehealth), you’ll need informed consents for each of the following:
- Consent to receive mental health treatment
- Consent to receive behavioral health treatment
- Consent to be treated via telehealth
Your EHR may not supply the compliant forms you need to ensure that your patients fully understand and consent to the services. Further, insurance carriers may require specific language in intake forms, particularly regarding informed consent (which is also influenced by state law).
See our related article, “Why Your Notice of Privacy Practices Alone Doesn’t Satisfy Your HIPAA Obligations.”
How Customized Forms Protect Your Practice
No two healthcare professionals or practices are the same, so why would they use identical forms? Customized forms, drafted by an attorney, consider the unique business decisions that shape how your practice operates. They reflect your preferences for patient interactions and help protect your practice by setting clear expectations.
For example, if you include a well-defined cancellation and rescheduling policy, you can point to it when enforcing your stated rules. Or, you may want to outline how you’ll handle encounters with patients in public. If you provide counseling services, you might prefer to have a sobriety policy, requesting that patients attend appointments free from any influence of drugs or alcohol.
Tailored practice forms aren’t just about legal compliance — they play a key role in how you run your business. They set the tone for your patient relationships and reflect the thought and care you put into your practice. When patients see the effort behind your customized forms, they understand that your practice pays attention to detail and values their experience.
However, it’s also risky to make changes to a template without legal guidance. Healthcare professionals sometimes assume that they can adjust business terms—such as adding an excessive no-show fee—without realizing those changes could alter legal rights or even violate the law.
These nuances further highlight the importance of having an attorney carefully draft your forms to ensure they are compliant and aligned with both your business goals and legal obligations.
Custom Forms or Adjusted Template Forms: Which is a Better Investment?
You may think that having an attorney review and modify a template form will save time and money compared to building a custom document from scratch. However, this can be a more costly approach.
When an attorney reviews a template, they must first spend time identifying potential issues, such as outdated or non-compliant language, missing clauses, or provisions that conflict with your practice’s business goals. Then, they have to adjust the form, which may involve rewriting entire sections to ensure compliance with state laws and insurance requirements. In essence, they’re reworking a document that wasn’t designed for your practice in the first place.
On the other hand, when an attorney drafts a customized form from scratch, they can build a document tailored specifically to your needs from the beginning. In many cases, it’s faster and more efficient to start fresh than to retrofit a generic template to meet your unique requirements.
Ultimately, investing in custom forms upfront can be more cost-effective while giving you peace of mind that your documents are legally sound, compliant, and aligned with how you operate your practice.
Copyright Issues: Could Using Templated Forms Get You Sued?
A final consideration: using template forms from EHRs could unknowingly expose your practice to additional liability from copyright infringement. Some EHRs provide “borrowed” templates originally prepared for another client by that person’s attorney. Not only are those templates not tailored to your specific practice (see above), but they may also violate copyright law.
Copyright protects an original creator’s work from being copied or used without permission. By using a template designed for someone else’s practice, you could be infringing on that copyright. Defending against a copyright lawsuit can be far more costly than having your attorney create customized forms for your practice.
Get Legal Support.
In the end, using template forms may seem like a convenient option, but the risks and potential costs far outweigh the benefits. Customized forms, built specifically for your practice, strengthen compliance, protect your business, and set the foundation for strong patient relationships. If you’re in a state where we have licensed attorneys, you can book a free consultation to learn more about how our law firm can help you succeed and stay compliant.
This article is made for educational purposes and is not intended to be specific legal advice to any particular person. It does not create an attorney-client relationship between our firm and the reader. It should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.
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